This Machine Keeps Hearts Beating and Filled With Blood Outside of the Body

One of the big issues with heart transplants is simply the number that how many people need a new heart versus the number of available, viable hearts. A box that keeps hearts beating and filled with blood could help.

More specifically, the OCS Heart by TransMedics could help increase the volume of transplants by potentially opening up the number of possible donors beyond those that are normally accepted. The stereotypical heart transplant begins with a brain-dead donor, whose heart is harvested from a healthy body and cooled for transport.

Advertisement - Continue Reading Below

The OCS Heart aims to include folks from outside this pool that have experienced what the MIT Technology Review calls "circulatory death," where the heart stops rather than just being brain dead. It does this by providing a sterile box that feeds blood, oxygen, and nutrients to donor hearts, potentially increasing the amount of time the organ can survive after the donor dies using warm perfusion techniques. Reportedly, it's been used to great effect "in at least 15 cases[.]"

Without such help, surgeons consider hearts from dead donors too damaged to use. "The device is vital. The heart gets an absolutely essential infusion of blood to restore its energy," says Stephen Large, a surgeon at Papworth Hospital in the United Kingdom, which has used the system as part of eight heart transplants.

Most Popular

For now, the device is commercially available in Europe and Australia, but not the United States. According to TransMedics, it's under clinical investigation, which could mean it'll eventually hit the market. The company also has similar devices for transplanting lungs and livers, which could similarly increase the number of potential donors.